James Cameron passes on directing Battle Angel in favour of Robert Rodriguez

James Cameron’s long awaited Battle Angel looks like it’s finally coming to the big screen, but it won’t be the Titanic director behind the camera. THR reports that the wheels are now in motion on the project, with Cameron having hand-picked Sin City's Robert Rodriguez to bring the comic book adaptation to life.

"Robert and I have been looking for a film to do together for years, so I was pumped when he said he wanted to do Battle Angel," says Cameron to THR. "He’s very collaborative and we’re already like two kids building a go-kart, just having fun riffing creatively and technically. This project is near and dear to me, and there’s nobody I trust more than Robert, with his technical virtuosity and rebel style, to take over the directing reins. We’re looking forward to learning a lot from each other while we make a kick-ass epic."

For those unfamiliar with the source material, it tells the tale of an amnesiac female cyborg, who is retrieved from the junk-yard by a doctor who rebuilds her and sets her down the path of fighting crime. Cameron penned a script for the film some time ago, and it sounds as though he and Rodriguez will work on that draft together before the latter takes the helm on production.

Cameron had always intended to make Battle Angel his next film after Avatar, but with those sequels consuming his schedule for the foreseeable future, it makes sense that he would eventually pass on the reins. In the meantime, we’re thoroughly looking forward to seeing what Rodriguez does with an out-and-out sci-fi.